Swapped my anchor text strategy after a client in Phoenix complained

I used to keep all my anchor text really generic like 'click here' or 'learn more' until a client in Phoenix checked their backlink profile and said it looked unnatural. After I switched to more varied, context-rich anchors, their referral traffic jumped about 30% in two months. Has anyone else tweaked their anchor text ratio and seen a shift in results?

3 comments

3 Comments

blair_dixon2mo ago

Ngl, I've seen both sides of this coin. Had a client in HVAC who only wanted branded anchors and their traffic was flat for a year. Switched to a mix of branded, generic, and partial match phrases like "affordable AC repair Phoenix" and their organic leads jumped by 40% in 3 months. But the key was the context around the link mattered more than the anchor itself. If you've got a link on a well-written page about home maintenance that says 'click here', it'll still pass value. Just depends on how much risk you're willing to take with your anchor diversity.

sagew501mo ago

Yeah that whole thing about context around the link matters more than the actual anchor, thats what @blair_dixon was getting at and he's not wrong. The anchor text itself is just one signal, the page its sitting on and the surrounding copy do a lot of the heavy lifting. Seen plenty of sites with super generic anchors rank just fine if the link source is legit and relevant. Feels like people stress too much over hitting some perfect ratio instead of just writing natural sentences.

bennett.noah2mo ago

Counterpoint - I actually went the opposite way after a client complained. Switched from varied anchors to almost all branded and generic text. Their traffic stayed flat for 6 months but their rankings didnt tank like people said they would. Google seems way less strict about anchor text than most SEO experts claim. Ive seen sites with nothing but 'click here' links rank for competitive terms just fine. The whole ratio thing feels like overthinking most of the time. Real results depend way more on the authority of the linking domains than what words they use.